Sonos just revealed its new headphones – not called Sonos Headphones, but Sonos Ace – will go on sale from 2 June, priced at £449/$449. But beyond simply being a pair of the best active-noise cancelling headphones you can buy in 2024, the Ace feature a special personalised Dolby Atmos spatial audio home cinema experience – which I tried in late April to get a taste of how it works.
Called TrueCinema, the new Sonos feature will, at launch, work with the new Sonos Ace headphones and the Sonos Arc soundbar via the new Sonos app (Apple iOS only at launch, Android is coming soon after). I believe you’ll need to give your Arc a software update after 2 June too.
By using either the app or the Ace’s multi-functional toggle-button control, it’s possible to activate ‘TV Audio Swap’ and bring the experience from in-room surround to in-headphones surround. I tested out the experience while watching a section of the excellent Barbie movie – and the effect is impressive.
1. Room-measured sound profile
So this sounds like any other spatial audio experience in headphones, no? Not quite! Sonos’ TrueCinema works a little like the company’s TruePlay feature – a feature which measures room reflection, to adapt sound to compensate for bounce and decay at different frequencies for a cleaner audio output – to measure the room first.
Why does that matter? Sonos’ goal is to recreate the sound output you experience from the Arc in that specific room setup, but direct to your ears via Wi-Fi. It’ll give listeners a familiar, comfortable and more at-home feeling, not a ‘locked-in’ feeling that might feel uneasy or unfamiliar. I get that here, as the Ace’s ANC isn’t to a ‘vacuum-like’ level like some others, it’s more subtle in my view.
I didn’t experience the setup process, but it was described by Sonos’ Head of Innovation during my private listening session. Similar to TruePlay, the soundbar will emit ‘sweep’ sounds to measure the room, while the listener is sat in their perfect viewing spot (on the sofa, I suspect). It takes under a minute all in all.
2. Profile per Arc soundbar
Interestingly the TrueCinema profile is then saved on that specific Sonos Arc soundbar, so that any Sonos Ace headphones utilised with said soundbar will gain the same experience. That saves needing to perform the process again.
If you have one Arc upstairs and one downstairs, those two profiles will be distinct from one another. However, only one pair of headphones can connect at any time – you can’t have a dual- or multi-listener experience using multiple pairs of Sonos headphones.
3. Dolby Atmos spatial audio
Because the Sonos Arc soundbar is performing the sound processing and then sending this to the Sonos Ace heapdhones via Wi-Fi, it’s able to deliver Dolby Atmos spatial audio, but can also upmix stereo into a 7.1.4 equivalent surround for your ears too.
The Sonos Ace headphones can perform in-headphones processing for non-TrueCinema listening, too, such as from Dolby Audio sources directly – whether Spotify, Apple Music or elsewhere – but can’t upmix stereo audio in this way.
During my Barbie screener, I got a real sense of the surround sound’s motion. Indeed, many subtleties of the rear channels felt enhanced in this on-ear experience, highlighting even more detail than I’d expected. Bass is present but not overbearing – not a replacement for a Sonos Sub Mini, but a solid on-ear experience nonetheless.
4. Head-tracking too
Within the Sonos Ace headphones is an inertial measurement sensor (IMU for short), which can detect and track the direction of your head. That’s an essential for spatial audio to adapt the sound when you move your head, so it’ll give that ‘always centered’ experience based on what you’re watching – as if you’re sitting within the sound mix.
Other manufacturers do of course deliver similar experiences, such as Apple AirPods Max via Apple TV 4K, or the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones with a two-tier ‘Immersion’ system (for static or head-motion, the former designed for when on the move). I think the Sonos TrueCinema delivery just has that edge when it comes to sound profile though.
5. What about other Sonos soundbars?
At launch on 2 June 2024 the TrueCinema feature will only work between Sonos Ace headphones and Sonos Arc soundbar. However, Sonos is working to deliver the feature from all its soundbar products. I suspect Beam owners will be particularly keen.
That means in the future (at to-be-determined dates) there will be compatibility for Sonos Beam (Gen 2), Sonos Ray, and the original Sonos Beam soundbars. In those instances, as the system may be able to read a broader frequency spectrum than a given soundbar can deliver, I suspect the in-headphones experience may even sound better.
All in all, Sonos TrueCinema is a standout new feature for those who want a personalised home cinema listening experience – without disturbing others around them. At launch it’s somewhat limited in scope, though, so I hope those soundbar and Android compatibility updates roll out pronto!
